


Generic Teenage Rebellion

by sisstrider



Category: Dangan Ronpa
Genre: AU, Character Study, Gen, Talentswap, togami is a coolkid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-18
Updated: 2013-06-18
Packaged: 2017-12-15 10:31:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/848481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sisstrider/pseuds/sisstrider
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The world just won't understand Byakuya unless he makes it understand.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Generic Teenage Rebellion

**Author's Note:**

> oh man a talentswap

Byakuya Togami was around thirteen when his dad started forcing business on him. The Togami family owned an electronics manufacturing plant, but his father was thinking of bigger things for his son. Byakuya would try to go out with his skateboard, only to be stopped by his dad and given a long lecture on economics or business or things like that. He wasn’t even doing anything like getting into trouble or being a delinquent or anything.

Instead, Byakuya went down to the nearby auto shop where he spent his time helping the mechanics work on cars. He was already a skilled mechanic, one whose skills were as good as any of the professional mechanics who worked there. If he continued down that path, his skills would only get better, and he knew it. And so Byakuya developed a bit of an ego, confident that he would become one of the best mechanics.

This had been going on for a year, Byakuya enduring his father’s talks with mild complaining. He had never actually complained, but he was becoming extremely tired of being stopped every single time he tried to leave the house. How was he supposed to become the best mechanic if he couldn’t go out and work?

“Byakuya, come here,” Mr. Togami said as he was trying to leave again one day. Byakuya was especially annoyed because he was finally going to be paid for his work at the garage. “It’s time you started focusing more on becoming a businessman. With time, we could even turn our manufacturing plant into a company that surpasses the Ishimaru Conglomerate!”

“That’s not going to happen,” Byakuya replied flatly. “The Ishimaru Conglomerate is one of the biggest companies in the world. They have a hand in every big company there is. If anything, they’d buy us out or something.”

Mr. Togami frowned. “Son, that’s not how you should think about it. You have talent, and if you used it to create a company —”

“I’m talented with mechanics,” Byakuya interrupted. “In fact, I’m one of the best mechanics in the city already. My skill has nothing to do with business.”

“Well, that’s still not how you should think about it,” Mr. Togami said. “Being a mechanic will get you nowhere in life, even if that’s what you’re good at. All you’ll do is fix cars, and it won’t make a big long-term impact. On the other hand, if you run a business, it will be there for generations.”

“No, you don’t understand!” Byakuya yelled. “I like working on cars, and I don’t want to sit in some office all day working on paperwork! You know what, I’m going to do what I love and if you want a business so bad, well, why don’t you make one?” He wheeled around huffing and stomped out the door, only to freeze on the doorstep. Yelling at his dad and storming out had seemed like a good idea at first, but he didn’t feel like following through. Byakuya Togami had no desire to associate with the delinquents — he was simply too cool for that kind of thing.

He turned around to find that his father looked like he really didn’t care about the outburst. That was even worse than anger, it meant that Byakuya had stirred up all that drama for nothing. He had wasted his time and breath coming up with an emotional outburst, and his dad didn’t even care? Lame. This was the lamest thing that had ever happened to him.

Adjusting his shades, Byakuya sighed. “Fine, you got me. I’ll go back in and you can go on about how we’re gonna kick that conglomerate’s ass even though we both know that’s never going to happen —”

The ring of a phone cut Byakuya’s rant off, and Mr. Togami said “Hang on”, took his phone out, and answered it. Byakuya watched his dad grow increasingly more distressed. All Mr. Togami said was “okay” in more and more nervous tones. Finally, he said, “There’s nothing we can do besides call the garage,” and hung up.

Upon hearing “garage”, Byakuya was suddenly interested. This could be it, his big chance to show his dad what his talent could do. “Hey, Dad, what’s going on?” he asked.

“Well, one of our delivery trucks just stalled because of some kind of engine malfunction. All we can do is take it to the garage, which is going to be its own problem,” Mr. Togami explained.

Byakuya smirked. “Or, you could get me to do it. I’m just as good as everyone in the garage, and besides, I’ll do it for free. But of course, you did say this would get me nowhere in life...”

“No, wait!” Mr. Togami exclaimed. “You’ll really do it? You know what to do?”

“Of course,” Byakuya huffed. “I know all about engine failure diagnostics. Besides, if I didn’t do it, you’d probably ground me or something.”

Without answering, Mr. Togami went straight to their garage. Byakuya followed him, stopping to grab his box of auto parts and utility belt. He fastened the belt around his waist and brought his toolkit with him into the car.

They drove to the site of the stalled truck, which was a short ways away from the factory, which in turn was a short ways away from their house. It wasn’t easy to miss, after all there was a large vehicle that still managed to be partly in the lane while technically still being pulled over. The truck’s hood was already open, the driver standing by.

“Did you call the garage already?” Mr. Togami asked, stepping out of his car.

“Yes,” the driver said. “Why, is that a problem?”

“Well my son here is offering to do it for free,” Mr. Togami replied. Byakuya came out of the car, carrying his toolkit.

The driver looked over Byakuya in disbelief. He was tall for fourteen, with an aura of smugness about him. His clothing — a blue shirt with a popped collar, a gray hat that he wore backwards, and a pair of shades — made him look like he was one of the troublemaking variety. All of this added up to the driver severely doubting that Byakuya was a mechanic. “Sir...are you sure?”

Byakuya glared at him and went over to the truck. “Is the engine cold?” he asked. “If I start poking around in there and get burned, I’m sure my dad would sue you.”

“Of course it’s cold,” the driver replied. “I turned it off as soon as I pulled over.”

“Well, at least you knew to do that,” Byakuya said. Even with the driver’s reassurance of the engine being completely cold, he slid his hands into gloves hanging off of his utility belt.

Byakuya began inspecting the engine, looking through all the components to see if he could find a visible sign of malfunction. It didn’t take him long to find the source of the problem. The spark plug wires were all but mangled, the insulation burned and cut in several places.

“Well, I found the problem,” Byakuya announced. “You need new spark plug wires. Good thing I have some, but since the wires are this bad, you’ve probably experienced a drop in engine performance already. I don’t know why you didn’t check the engine before. You would have noticed the wires, and this would have all been avoided.”

The driver was stunned by Byakuya’s competence, but the thing that rendered him speechless was Byakuya’s blatant arrogance about the whole thing. Ignoring him, Byakuya carefully pulled out the wires and dumped them in his toolkit. He took six new wires out of his kit, as well. Even though he was absolutely sure the wires were brand new, he tested the resistance. The wires were all fine, so he greased the ends and plugged them back into the engine.

“That should be fine,” Byakuya said, stepping away from the engine and slamming the hood shut. “Try it.”

The driver climbed back into his truck and started the engine. This time, it worked just fine. “Hey, you’re right! Thanks, Mr. Togami.”

Byakuya nodded, even though he had a feeling that was directed towards his father. Why would it be, though? His dad hadn’t done anything besides driving to the truck.

They were about to get in the car and leave when a mechanic pulled up in a tow truck. “Engine failure, right?” he asked, getting out of the truck.

“It’s fine,” Byakuya said. “I fixed it, you can go back to the garage now.”

“Byakuya!” the mechanic exclaimed. “So this is where you’ve been? Looks like you beat us to it.”

“It’s my dad’s truck,” Byakuya said. “Or a truck from his plant, anyway.”

“Oh,” the mechanic said. “Well fine, I guess I’ll go back.” He got back in the tow truck and drove away, mumbling about how a teenager had just stolen a couple thousand yen from him.

“Well...” Mr. Togami began. The delivery truck had left now, leaving Mr. Togami and his son alone. “That was impressive.”

“That was easy,” Byakuya said. “That wasn’t even anything complicated. I didn’t actually need to really fix anything, just replace the wires.”

“Still, maybe I was wrong. You knew exactly what you were doing back there, and you saved us a lot of time and money. Maybe I shouldn’t think of your hobby so badly.”

“Well, finally,” Byakuya said, rolling his eyes. Since he was wearing shades, the point was lost. “Can we go home now?”

Mr. Togami nodded and they got in the car and drove home. When they pulled into the driveway, they noticed a white envelope just sitting on their porch. “Byakuya, can you get that while I put the car in the garage?” Mr. Togami asked.

Byakuya got out of the car and went to pick up the envelope. The first thing he noticed wasn’t the fancy stationery, or even the sender’s address. It was the fact that the envelope was addressed to him. In that case, it wouldn’t hurt to open it now. He pulled out the letter and began reading it.

“Dear Byakuya Togami...congratulations on being accepted into Hope’s Peak Academy as a Super High-School Level Mechanic...”

Byakuya grinned. Things were looking up.


End file.
